Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman and U.S. Department of Justice officials announced a long-awaited agreement on Tuesday for federal oversight of the city's notoriously shoddy and dangerous jail. The 49-page consent decree amounts to a blueprint for reforms and staffing fixes at a jail facility where 38 inmates have died over the past seven years, where escapes are commonplace, and where safety and sanitary conditions are routinely compromised, critics say.

Signed and submitted to U.S. District Judge Lance Africk for approval, the document marks Gusman's office as the latest local agency in New Orleans to succumb to outside oversight.

It joins the New Orleans Police Department, the city's housing authority, the Sewerage & Water Board and the school system in swallowing state or federal authority to remedy glaring troubles.

For the jail, the alleged shortcomings include poor inmate access to mental health care, suspect policies on deputies' use of force, and what federal officials have argued are unconstitutional levels of violence and inhumane treatment in a facility that houses more than 2,000 inmates.

Gusman, federal officials and lawyers for inmates announced the agreement Tuesday morning under a tent in front of the construction site for a new jail.

For Gusman, it is clearly an uneasy pact aimed at ridding his office of a civil rights lawsuit that inmates' lawyers and the government have pressed.

Story by

While announcing the pact, Gusman also refused to say that by signing it he has admitted to running an unconstitutional facility.

"I'm not agreeing to that. The claims of other people -- let those people answer those claims," he said. "I think the consent decree speaks for itself."

Roy Austin Jr., deputy assistant for the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, said the jail is dangerously understaffed, resulting in assaults and injuries to prisoners.

"This agreement is yet another opportunity for the City of New Orleans to fix its criminal justice system," said Austin, who also helped forge the consent decree sealed in July with the NOPD.

Like the NOPD consent decree, the jail agreement will be reviewed by an independent, court-appointed monitor. Unlike the police deal, which sets a four-year target for an end to federal oversight, the jail consent decree sets no end date.

Africk, with the monitor's help, will judge compliance.

Austin cited "unacceptable levels of violence" in the jail, along with sanitation and fire safety concerns that the consent decree seeks to address.

Katie Schwartzmann, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Louisiana office, said that most inmates are pre-trial detainees who have not been convicted of anything.

"We understand there are entire floors of the facility that are completely unmanned," she said. "We have to get started on this."

Under the deal, Gusman has agreed to immediately institute changes -- largely in training and policies -- to make progress on what Schwartzmann described as a need for cultural changes among jail guards.

But for the heavier lifting, including hiring more deputies with higher pay, money remains the sticking point. Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Gusman have been at loggerheads for months over the city's legal obligation to adequately fund the jail, and just what that means. The issue is set for trial next spring.

The consent decree does not specify a particular staffing level but requires the sheriff to complete a staffing study and hire a "professional corrections administrator" to review jail operations.

Gusman has argued that he needs nearly $40 million in "interim funding" to beef up staffing, raise salaries and meet other mandates. The 2013 city budget has the sheriff getting $22.1 million.

The city has made a counter-offer: Zero. Landrieu has said Gusman hasn't proven he needs any more money to bring the jail up to constitutional snuff.

Schwartzmann said Tuesday that the city has conducted a staffing study for the jail but has refused to reveal its findings pending the scheduled trial.

Ryan Berni, a spokesman for Landrieu's office, said the city is not finished conducting a forensic accounting and staffing audit, but for now its position remains the same -- that Gusman is wasting money and hasn't made the case for more funding.

"There has been no proof that any alleged unconstitutional conditions at the jail are the result of a lack of funding," Berni said. "We are not prepared to write a blank check. The additional funding being sought by the sheriff would have a crippling effect on the city's operations, including services like police, fire and recreation."

Just where the money would be found is uncertain.

Schwartzmann and Austin argued for the city to quickly allocate emergency funds if necessary. Austin added that the agreement is "not self-executing" and that the city was "a necessary partner."

The funding dispute tempered and politicized news of the consent decree, as the parties acknowledged its limited effectiveness without funding and took turns calling out the city to pony up more cash.

"The city has not been meeting this obligation and the prison has been underfunded for years," Austin said. "People will needlessly suffer each day if we are unable to fully implement this agreement."

Asked whether he and the city were moving closer to a compromise, Gusman demurred.

"They're not here today," he said. "We're not as close as I'd like to be."

Africk will ultimately decide how much money Gusman needs to run a constitutionally clean jail.

Last month, Africk ordered a Feb. 19 trial date on inmates' constitutional claims against Gusman, and an April 1 date for a trial to determine funding, Now, the Feb. 19 court date will be used for a comment process and fairness hearing on the agreement.

Once the settlement is approved, Gusman has about three months to revise or develop procedures that bring the prison into compliance, as well as establishing a training curriculum for his officers.

Under the deal, Gusman will be required to develop and implement policies and procedures on how and when his deputies are allowed to use force.

The sheriff's office also must train officers annually on use of force, establish a uniform reporting system to review how often deputies get physical with inmates and randomly test 5 percent of the staff each year on the department's procedures.

The agreement also requires the sheriff's office to develop procedures for screening and assessing prisoners with mental illness. Prisoners are to be screened once they arrive at OPP to identify a potential risk for suicide or other violence, the document states.

Much of the agreement mandates speed and specifics in reporting problems, from inmate or deputy violence to broken smoke detectors. It also requires detailed procedures for how and when to handle inmate complaints.

The deal also requires an overhaul of suicide-prevention practices, bolstered medical care and translation services for inmates who don't speak English, among other measures.

The way the jail is funded could also be revamped, moving away from a daily per-inmate price tag that critics argue encourages a fuller jail. Gusman and the city both said they support that shift.

Gusman said he's already implemented several of the measures in the agreement. Schwartzmann agreed with Gusman that deputy salaries -- in some cases less than $10 an hour -- are woefully low.

Just how construction of a new jail facility will affect staffing needs is no entirely clear, Schwartzmann said.

"Hopefully the new facility will be more streamlined and have better sightlines, but we don't know that," she said. "Our clients tell us that they can't find deputies when they need them. In the event of an emergency, if someone has a seizure or a stroke, guys have to bang on the doors forever.
The new jail doesn't come online until 2013. We have people being hurt in there right now today."

The consent decree comes on the heels of a sprawling federal consent decree for the New Orleans Police Department. That agreement, which awaits approval from U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan, is expected to cost the city about $55 million over five years.